A while back I was talking to my wife. You see, she obsesses over the weekly menu. I have absolutely no care if we schedule a certain meal for a certain day or if we eat the same thing two days in a row or if we don't alternate beef with chicken or vegetables. We talked about it and she admitted that she gets mean when she's hungry.

I asked "have you never skipped a meal?". Her reply was "never once".

I've never been without a place to live for more than three days but when I was on my own I remember not having food and not knowing if food was coming anytime soon. I remember finding a quarter on the street and buying a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie that I'd make sure to make last for 2 days.

I believe it made me more grateful than I would have been to not experience that.

Question:
I'm just curious, have you ever or never been hungry? Fasting and dieting doesn't count as hunger in this case.

Choices:
I've never missed a meal in my life.
I've felt hunger.

 

I've been in the situation when very much younger of having to make the choice of paying the rent or paying for food. I always chose the rent.

During those times I can remember taking the little ketchup packages from fast food places and dumping the contents in a bowl, adding water and calling it soup among other little things like that to feel like I was getting something to fill my stomach.

At one point, whilst living in the back of my '74 Pinto station wagon, I was pretty much living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I could buy a jar of each and a loaf of cheapo white bread for $2-3 and it would keep me going for a week or so.

Not long after, I decided that it was probably time to do something with my life.

When I was in my young 20's, I was living with 3 friends and we all worked for the same amusement company. When the season ended I was the only one the company kept on over the winter to repair/restore the amusement rides. I was the only one to be able to pay our rent, and buy the food. Most nights we at least had Mac and Cheese since it was so cheap we could at least eat dinner. During the day there was nothing. We got by, I never regretted having to pay for everything. We would go to parties on the weekends and eat like we had never eaten before. This only lasted 4 months until everyone else found a job and we moved to different locations for work. I never to this day will eat Mac and Cheese.

I think we all eat out of habit, instead of eating because we are hungry.

I used to work construction, out in remote areas, yes, I have been hungry.

I missed more than a few meals in the Marine Corps. I also grew up very poor and lived hams to mouth at times.

quote:

Originally posted by 95flhr:
During those times I can remember taking the little ketchup packages from fast food places and dumping the contents in a bowl, adding water and calling it soup among other little things like that to feel like I was getting something to fill my stomach.

I wish I'd have thought of that. Right out of high school a friend and I left our hometown determined to make it to California. His sister was in the air force at Lowry AFB in Colorado but we had to go to Florida first to pick up her car. We drove to Florida stayed with his mom for a couple of months. I could walk to my job. I gave his mom every other check for letting us stay and saved the rest for going to Denver. When we got there and gave his sister her car things went downhill. We now had nothing to drive and jobs were far from our apartment. Our savings went the first week. That's when the hunger started. It got bad enough that we didn't have bus fare to get to work. On high smog days Denver would decrease or drop the bus fare to encourage people to drive less. We'd go on free fare days and if we had a nickel reach and bus fare was 10¢ we'd throw them in together hoping the driver wouldn't notice we only paid for one. I didn't know anything about welfare or assistance but my friend asked about it and was told we had to live there 6 months before we were eligible. Hunger won out over the desire to go to California.

The closest I've ever been was in college when I would spend too much of my monthly allowance at the bar and then have to scrounge for change to head up to Jimmy Johns for a loaf of day old and a pickle. I don't recall exactly how much the loaf and a pickle was, but I think it was like $1.35.

So if the question is, have you ever been broke and not known where your next meal was coming from, the answer for me is no.

Rice and eggs can be served at each and every meal. And both are inexpensive.

Grew-up without a lot of things, but never food. Or housing. Wasn't extravagant, but we are not ostentatious people.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
The closest I've ever been was in college when I would spend too much of my monthly allowance at the bar and then have to scrounge for change to head up to Jimmy Johns for a loaf of day old and a pickle. I don't recall exactly how much the loaf and a pickle was, but I think it was like $1.35.

That's basically fasting.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
So if the question is, have you ever been broke and not known where your next meal was coming from, the answer for me is no.

Yes, I'm asking about being truly hungry and not knowing where your next meal is coming from.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Rice and eggs can be served at each and every meal. And both are inexpensive.

Grew-up without a lot of things, but never food. Or housing. Wasn't extravagant, but we are not ostentatious people.

It doesn't matter if something is inexpensive or even free if you can't get it.

Ranger School 1991

part of the misery they exert on you during the training is prolonged fatigue coupled with limited rations

you get to eat - it's just never enough

many soldiers graduated (and still do I'm sure) with significant weight loss -- 20+ pounds was not uncommon

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Several years ago I was literally a starving student. I lost 30lbs in 2 months. Once I passed out. The most substantial meal I had during this time was a $0.39 hamburger from McDonald's.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
Ranger School 1991

part of the misery they exert on you during the training is prolonged fatigue coupled with limited rations

you get to eat - it's just never enough

many soldiers graduated (and still do I'm sure) with significant weight loss -- 20+ pounds was not uncommon

------------------------------------------

That doesn't count in this case. I'm talking zero food for more than three or four days.

quote:

Originally posted by henryarnaud:
Several years ago I was literally a starving student. I lost 30lbs in 2 months. Once I passed out. The most substantial meal I had during this time was a $0.39 hamburger from McDonald's.

That's more of what I'm getting at. If we had a McDonald's near us at the time it would have been torture to smell it and not be able to have it.

I don’t believe I’ve ever missed a meal if I wanted it (although at times it was just bread and cheese) but I’ve been so busy I forget to eat 2 to 3 meals. Then I’m hangry, but easily remedied. So I’m not exactly sure how to answer the poll, as it only gives the two choices.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
I don’t believe I’ve ever missed a meal if I wanted it (although at times it was just bread and cheese) but I’ve been so busy I forget to eat 2 to 3 meals. Then I’m hangry, but easily remedied. So I’m not exactly sure how to answer the poll, as it only gives the two choices.

that would not count as hunger in this case.

1984 - 275X0 pipeline courses. Yes, I was hungry.

I have a little different input than your original intent of the post.

I have been married twice. After the first marriage, I was on my own for 5 years. During those years I was very busy with work.

As far as eating was concerned, I was completely unscheduled. Only ate when I was hungry. There were times when I felt really hungry and realized I hadn't had a meal in a day or two.

I was working out a lot and was in good physical condition.

Have sometimes wondered if that isn't a more natural way of eating than our regimented 3 meals a day. Just eat when you are hungry.

I realize that goes against all diet advice, but there seems to be a lot more Americans over weight than under weight.

No, I've never been truly hungry.

Yes, I've missed meals before and been hungry in the sense that I knew that I had missed a regular meal or even two. But true hunger? No. Never.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
many soldiers graduated (and still do I'm sure) with significant weight loss -- 20+ pounds was not uncommon

About 20 years ago, I had horrible sleep apnea due to huge tonsils and a low hanging soft palate. One day I decided to have them removed. The surgery went south when one of the tonsil sites wouldn't stop bleeding and I had to go under general anesthesia three times before they were able to stop dicking around and get it stopped. The tonsil portion wasn't so bad regarding post-op pain, but the work on the soft palate/uvula was agony. Every time I swallowed the pain would put me to my knees, so...I tried not to swallow. I carried around a spit bottle for a couple of weeks and didn't/couldn't eat. I lost nearly 30 pounds during that ordeal.

The good thing, though, and an interesting thing about the body, is that you don't feel hungry after a couple of days. Your body just begins to feed itself off of...well...itself.